And then you calmed right the fuck back down. :lol

Skyrider episode 21

-KITSubs, I know you're more about following the spirit of the dialogue than providing an accurate translation, but please, have some restraint.

-"Who's stronger, you or Stronger?"
"Um...we're the same"

That Hiroshi's giving himself a lot of credit, I gotta say.

-Also man, they just pointed out this dumbass kid is also named Shigeru. Small world. Just kidding, they probably did it on purpose.

-Man, Hiroshi has just no reservations about laying down some drop kicks on Stronger. I seriously fail to see how training by attacking Shigeru over a rock would be any more effective. Is Stronger just into it? I had him pegged for an S...

-I'm honestly really disappointed that RhinoDump's dam-destroying plan involves sensible shit like blowing it up with explosives, as opposed to him just running and headbutting it until it breaks. Like, legitimately disappointed. You have let me down, RhinoDump. I thought I knew you.

-Oh man, the explosive plan failed so now he literally is doing that thing I thought he would do! I love you, RhinoDump. Please never leave.

-Onore, Sukairaidaa! You made RhinoDump leave. You monster.

-I am really disappointed that JellyFission didn't reply to RhinoDump's "avenge me" with a "screw you."

-So now that Ika Musume is dead as usual all the other jellyfish are gonna die, so that's cool, but I'm pretty sure the little girl from the last episode was already suffering from excess murderjelly for like two days. She's probably dead. And the episode doesn't even bring up the kids and teacher from the last episode at all. This disregard for victims is truly one of the Showa era's strongest points.

This was a fun episode.

Ok, so I'm not used to typing out my thoughts like this so sorry if I end up rambling a bit.

I've been a fan of KR for a while now, but most of my experience with the franchise has been with the post-Decade shows. I've watched Den-O all the way through Ghost (in fact Decade was what started me on this oddly enough), and while I have watched Kuuga and parts of Ryuki, I haven't seen any Showa stuff yet partially out of the fear that the older quality will mean I'll get bored or disinterested. But with the Amazons trailer grabbing my attention, I figured now would be a good time as any to get into the Showa era, starting with Kamen Rider Amazon. And since I should probably DO something with the account I have here, I'll try to give some of my opinions on the show as I go along. So here's my first impressions on the first episode:

...wooooow. That video quality. It's not bad, in fact it has a bit of charm to it, but it's definitely a bit jarring at first. It felt like a mix between an old war documentary and a children's cartoon... wait nevermind, that demon just puked acid blood on a forest, definitely not a children's cartoon. Eh, I'm sure I'll get used to it though. I got used to Kuuga pretty quickly.

As I went along, the characters didn't seem too bad, but the guy who played Kousaka seemed... like he wasn't particularly interested in what he was doing. It didn't help that it was kind of obvious that the voices were from a recording booth. The others were fine and engaging though, even the kid surprisingly. Though the fact that right after Kousaka mentioned "enemies" the kid's sister just let the kid outside on his own without a second thought was a little funny. And I liked the bonding moment that happened between him and Amazon. For some reason, I was silently hoping that he wouldn't get killed.

...Oh no, this is much worse. Traumatize him with a monster nearly killing his new jungle buddy. Speaking of which, was the monster on the boat with Amazon? I wasn't really sure but it looked like it had followed him all the way from the Amazon, so were they fighting on the boat the whole time it was at sea? Oh well, whatever. The action's pretty good and very primal feeling (duh). The sound effects everywhere were a little weird, but not too distracting. Except when it was during a non-action scene, that was a little weird.

One downside to the episode is that it felt like there wasn't much of an overarching plot, and the characters were just meandering around with occasional monster attacks. Also, it felt kind of annoying that he kept fighting it without transforming, even though it was obviously not working. I can let that slide though, since it's only the first episode.

Overall I found it quite enjoyable, and while there wasn't much that really grabbed my attention so far, I still want to keep going and see what happens with it.

Continuing with Amazon episodes 2-3

2:
Oh good, we get more slightly redundant exposition on Gedon: Ancient Incan magic artifacts = world domination, Amazon has the thing Gedon needs. Pretty standard, though the talking faces on Gedon are still kinda weird. I half expect one of them to speak out of turn or say something stupid and get berated by the others.

So, let me get this straight... This poison, which gave Masako "new symptoms" that "modern medicine can't diagnose", is cured by Amazon with a few berries and leaves? ...Seems legit. Still like the kid/Amazon friendship going on, it's heartwarming.

*grumbles* Friggin friend being an idiot... You weren't even there, why are you blaming Amazon for draining Masako's blood and poisoning her?

You know, I get that they couldn't produce proper monster suits for all those footsoldiers, but they look less like heralds for a demon overlord and more like cultist cosplayers. Also the tassels. It's like Beast Hyper on steroids, and I like Beast Hyper (now anyways. it was still kinda weird at first).

The fighting between Amazon and the bat beastman was pretty cool now that I can actually see what's going on, but wow that beastman is a moron. You really expected to get shown mercy after running away a second time? I know you nearly got your organs ripped out, but you seriously expected Gedon to let you live? If I were you, I would've gotten the hell out of Japan as fast as I could. Or better yet, you could've actually followed your own friggin creed and gotten killed trying to kill Amazon.

...wow I can't believe I just said that. Anyway, not really related to the episodes, but i love how, during the commercial buffers, the subbing group threatens you with one of the characters if you attempt to sell their videos.
...Actually that's still weird to say.

3:
Huh... so Gedon magically pukes up the beastmen? Weird. I honestly thought they were enhanced humans or something. I mean he has followers, I figured he could lead them to follow him in hopes of receiving power. I guess they're just there to protect themselves when Gedon takes over. Or they're actually committed to following a blood-consuming demon.

Oh no, the beastman's power is spraying soap! No one can escape the soap! They're doomed!!!

*giggles* Did they just simulate Amazon and a victim flowing down a waterfall by throwing two entwined ragdolls into the river? I get that's what they were limited to at the time, but that's hilarious. Also, do they only have those two footsoldier outfits? I'm pretty sure Gedon has more than two supporters, but so far it seems like the same two women help the beastman in outside scenes.

Oh good, at least one of Gedon's faces isn't stupid. It didn't immediately assume Amazon was dead just from going over a waterfall. It actually thought that Amazon disappearing meant that he was still alive. I guess having Ten faces has its advantages.

Wait!!!! Wait wait wait wait. THAT Tachibana? As in the guy who helped Ichigou!? Seriously? *quick google search* Wow, I didn't know he kept showing up that much. And they say that Kamen Riders nowadays are obsessed with crossovers. I really wasn't expecting some random motorcyclist victim to be the scientist that started it all. And he looks so young, I expected him to be older.

I really like how they're writing Amazon, and his actor is doing a pretty good job at it as well. Him being upset at not being understood and attacked by regular people, his kind interactions with his friends, his fear/hatred of motorcycles being well created and established, and the fact that in a crisis he realizes the folly of his fear and... immediately grasps how to activate and ride it... He didn't go very far, but still...

Anyway, I'm loving this show so far, contrary to my initial fears. Now that it's starting to get into its own rhythm, the action is cool, the characters and even villains are likable and somewhat intelligent, and I want to see Amazon continue to learn and hopefully make more friends. I hope they keep this u... did that beastman just cover itself in its own soap vomit and die? What?

Yeah, Tachibana Tobei was in all of the classic early 70s Rider shows, the original through Stronger. There was even an effort to get him back for Skyrider, but the actor declined so they made a new character that was pretty much Tachibana in all but name (and, true to form, he stuck around for Super-1).

Glad to see you're enjoying Amazon. It's... well, it's really damn weird. Even by early Rider standards. But it's a really fun weird.

Skyrider episode 22.

Holy shit, Hiroshi stabbed the dude's eye with an icicle! That's cold blooded. Eyes are off limits, Hiroshi. Rude, Hiroshi.

Amazons 01

I liked it. Its a return to Riders roots as a horror show and I liked how the episode builds its atmosphere. I like it when shows take their time with things and dont rush from action scene to action scene. The character stuff was also neat.
The cg blood in the show looks terrible though. But thats a cg blood thing. I have yet to see anything that makes it look good.

They went CGI for the blood? :(

Dammit, man, it's Amazon. Where are our gigantic jets of shaving foam?

Yeah for the most part they did it cg. They have some fake blood in there in some scenes (which look a thousand times better) but most of the blood is done with computers.

Kamen Rider Black 29...

Just look at this shit:

http://i.imgur.com/INUq7Kf.gif

They seriously have an Armadillo Mutant going around making puppet copies of future Japanese NASA astronauts by ejaculating on them with his trunk. You can't tell me that's not what they were thinking when they came up with this.

...

This is the best show ever made.

Okay I have to admit that made me laugh out loud. No wonder Black is so popular.

Finally got the time to check out the first episode of Amazons. Good stuff, looking forward to more.

Yeah, I'm glad they try something unusual with Amazons.

Skyrider episode 23.

That was a pretty dumb episode.

But hey, at least there's V3...whose series is the only one up to this point I haven't touched. Honestly when V3 and Riderman show up it doesn't mean a lot to me. So.

Yeah, dumb episode.

On the 34th episode of Wizard. This show is just an utter joy and it makes me even more pleased that so many dislike it.

I swear whoever is in charge of the special effects in Agito needs a talking to. All these camera filters and lens flare and things like the time of day randomly changing and it raining under a bridge. The acting feels abnormally awkward to me too. Needless to say, this is turning into one of the most unintentionally funny seasons to me. Episode 28 next. (Also Inoue is going for his drama again, he sure loves that.)

Fourze Episodes 23-24: I am glad to be back to Fourze. Need to balance my schedule better, but still on to the episodes. Great two parter here. Enjoyed seeing the split personality mystery with Eguchi I thought that was an interesting touch for a Zodiart and definitely threw a curve ball for the KRC. JK is like super important to this freaking group he gets like all the information to figure stuff out lol. I enjoy seeing Ryuusei and Tomoko together they are a fun pairing and Ryuusei getting serious and then having to stop was hilarious. Meteor also not hitting Tomoko was good character growth for him and that I am enjoying him more. Gentarou is always fun, I like how he is a bit hot-headed but also has good plans and ingenuity with tying up the Cancer Zodiarts. Intrigued with how the Cancer Zodiarts joined and excited to see what happens next.

Fourze Episodes 25-26: A very emotional two-parter. I enjoyed them bringing back the former Zodiarts and using one who could mimic them, that was a very nice touch especially for the graduation of Miu and Shun. Japanese Schools seem to work very differently lol. Still it was great to see how much Shun and Miu both care about the Kamen Rider Club and how much Shun cares about Miu. I thought the prom part was a beautiful scene especially with Shun trying to make Miu happy with Gentarou dancing with her. Also interesting to see JK use the PowerDizer that was fun. I also enjoyed that the two of them aren't going away because after I think about it I really enjoy Miu here. Shun has been a favorite of mine since he joined the KRC lol and he is just so much fun. Ryuusei has definitely improved as a character and this two-parter just helped him more with making Miu and Shun realize that they are important to the KRC and it wouldn't exactly work without them. Also that he went took one of the girls to the dance was nice of him too and funny to see how he was coerced into it lol. Gentarou continues being fun and just I love how much effort he puts into trying to help his friends. Also the combat is one of the highlights of the show and the Magnet States/PowerDizer combo attack was awesome and so is Meteor's moves. I can't wait for more especially when it looks like the Meteor's Secret Identity gets revealed in the next two episodes.

I finished Kamen Rider Black. It was really, really fun. First Showa-show I finished, definitely not the last. My thoughts below, mild Spoiler warning.

I loved most if not all things about it, as I already said throughout watching the show the suits are amazing, the work behind and in front of the camera is fantastic, the action is awesome, and it does have a plot behind it that binds it together. Not an epic story, but still a tale worth telling.

Of course there’s some stuff that’s not so good: After the initial dark setup and some very mature episodes the tone of the show goes down a lot. Around the middle point the show starts to heavily feature children and their problems and Kamen Rider usually is the guy who’s just around when Golgom plans something nasty and children are in trouble. In fact many if not all later episodes start with a child facing an issue, which somehow ties into Golgom doing evil stuff and then Rider saves the day. They even have a children fighting squad in there, believe it or not.

That’s not that bad, as most of these problems are still relevant to children worldwide today and they do bring a lot of creativity into it to make it work as a Rider-episode (sometimes too much even – the episode where the severed head of a Golgom Mutant helps a child to get over the death of his beloved dog comes to mind), but I like the darker tone of the earlier episodes a bit better.

However, later episodes have something strong going for them, which is the new bad guys. Early on the three High Priests of Golgom are the enemies, they send out the Mutants Kamen Rider faces. That get’s tiresome rather quick though, as there’s no interesting side to them, they share the same goal and aside from plotting and laughing, sending out Mutants, sometimes fighting Rider and cursing when they lose they don’t do a whole lot. That changes drastically when Sword Saint Bilgenia arrives, and he’s fantastic. He’s a Golgom Warrior who was trained to face the challenge of a Century King but he was never chosen by the Creation King to actually take that challenge.

So he has a burning hate for the Century King and he can’t stand the High Priests either, and that’s hilarious. He constantly clashes with the Priests, pokes fun at them when they fail again which makes them in turn really mad and that’s such a joy to witness. Makes the Priests more believable and interesting too.

Bilgenia also brings new setups to the table as he uses new powers and tactics to battle Kamen Rider and is generally a fun and interesting antagonist.

And after Bilgenia there’s Shadow Moon, which is IMO the best part of the show, as the whole setup that Nobuhiko is still trapped by Golgom flourishes and everything the show build up to finally pays off. These last 20-ish episodes are really good. You get some more setups that don’t involve children but instead deal with Kotaro being unable to face Shadow Moon or one of Shadow Moon’s plans needs to be stopped without a children protagonist in there. And the Priests mutate into Great Mutans and take a much more active role now that Shadow Moon is awake and that’s great too.

And the final episodes featuring the battle between Kamen Rider Black and Shadow Moon are really cool.

So yeah, I like this show a lot. The suit work is outstanding, the characters are believable, action is fantastic, and even the bad episodes are sometimes so crazy that they’re very enjoyable. I think I now understand why this show is the best old Rider has to offer.

There are some more points for and against it I could make but I think you get the idea. Anyways, in my ranking this will go quite high, and I had some re-arranging to do too. Here’s my current list, favorites on top, not-so much favorites at the bottom:

1. Gaim
2. Kuuga
3. Kabuto
4. Black
5. Ryuki
6. Agito
7. W
8. OOO
9. Den-O
10. Drive
11. Wizard

You haven't watched Blade? I'd suggest you to do that next, that one is one of my top 3 KR series. Also curious, why's Drive at your bottom list?

Nope, I haven't, but I very, very much look forward to it. However, I promised myself I'll tackle Faiz next. I want to continue watching some Heisei shows and Faiz... I want to get it over with. I heard so many bad things, some good things, that I want to see this now. I actually wanted to do this before watching Kabuto, but then I just started Kabuto anyways and couldn’t stop.

I want to save Blade it so I have something to look forward to even if Faiz is terrible for me.

And with Drive... it's difficult. I liked it early on, but then the show started pissing me off. I like Shinnosuke, Kirioko, Chase and Mr. Belt, but the SIU... god I hate them. The forced comedy is so bad. The show started getting repetitive really fast, and then came Gou. The guy who's such a cookie cutout of a secondary Rider that it hurts. He's butting heads with Shinnosukle for no reason other than being a dick, he brings nothing new to the table aside from another problem for the main cast to worry about, and he's just so… ugh. Can’t stand that dude. Even though admittedly his whole shtick with the role call was fun and the Mach suit isn’t that bad.

So the show was just nothing for me at the time, it had its moments here and there, but it lost me. I continued watching and around halfway through when Shinnosuke starts investigating his dads murder case it got really good, but it was still filled with all the things I didn’t like about it.

I always admitted and will continue to that Drive, overall, is a decent to good-ish show. One of those where the first half is decent to terrible but then it really gets going. However, it’s a matter of taste, and I’m not a critic. I don’t have to judge fairly and give a rating while looking at all the pros and cons. If I don’t like a show, I don’t like it, so it gets put low on the list.

Of course it could be higher technically, like Den-O had absolutely no plot and was very light on the character development, Drive did all of those things better overall, but I had more fun watching Den-O so Den-O goes up higher.

But if it means anything to you I’m think that Drive will go one spot up once Ghost is finished. Because I dislike that show even more currently, and I’m fairly certain that no turn-around and no epicness of the second half can save that show for me. The only thing I still need to think about with Ghost is if I dislike it more than Wizard.

Fourze Episodes 27 and 28: These two-parters have been fantastic lately. This continues the improvement of Meteor's development especially with the Kamen Rider Club trading their souls for his. I enjoyed that he had his identity figured out by Cancer who was pretty hilarious the entire episode with his antics, though I have to say the Principal was insanely crafty with his plan to get rid of him and I don't want to be on the bad side of Evil Garren's jealousy. I loved that Tachibana gave Ryuusei that choice and that he picked the right way of going back to help the KRC and that he got Cancer to laugh that was fantastic. Ryuusei still needs to open up but he definitely feels closer to the group. Also it was great meeting Gentarou's Grandfather and learning a little bit about his parents too. Meteor Storm is pretty freaking awesome, I like the colors and the staff, also the ridiculousness of his spin-top finisher too. Fourze definitely brings it's own type of magic to Kamen Rider that I am really enjoying.

Skyrider episode 25.

This episode is seriously weird as shit.


Who even names their kid Bongo...

Fourze Episode 29 and 30: Ah the new Semester which means lots of new things. Like New members of the Kamen Rider Club: I enjoyed that Oosugi joining them and wanting to protect the students to do more of that he feels is in his job description as a teacher. Him finding the Kamen Rider Club and everything that lead to was hilarious. Haru and Ran's story helped bring a level of the good that the KRC does for people and I think will help overall with getting more of the students to trust them more. Libra being at the other school is intriguing and I love that it is expanded to a place where the Kamen Riders aren't at lol. Also that we finally get Aries is great, I can't wait to see where this goes with Fourze and Meteor, though judging by where I am with the episodes this is probably the Cosmic States arc especially with reaching the 40th Switch in the next episode. Also I enjoy the usage of all the switches in combat and his 3 forms. Fourze and Meteor are both kick ass fighters, I think Fourze is more resourceful as Meteor is more skilled. Well I can't wait for more.

I've gotten more than halfway into Drive, and I have to say the show has completely shattered my expectations, I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

And I've just started when Shinnosuke started investigating his fathers case.

I'll admit thought I think Gou/Mach is just okay.

I just reached the 30's of Fourze and kind of having the same feelings lol.

I loved Drive. Gou was my favorite from that series but everyone has their own feelings.

Fourze Episodes 31 and 32: Dear God that was an amazing two-parter here. Finally moving forward with Meteor's plot and introducing Cosmic States was freaking fantastic. I enjoyed Ryuusei's whole betrayal/redemption arc here and how bad he felt but overall doing the right thing helped him get both Jirou back and helped save the Kamen Rider Club. Also I am so glad they finally know that he is Meteor I felt that was kind of hindering the story. I also thought the Kamen Rider Club really shined here especially with JK ripping up the script, Shun helping bust through, Kengo doing everything he can to help revive Gentarou, Tomoko helping Ryuusei re-evaluate what he did, and well Yuuki was really fun. Gentarou is freaking fantastic with believing in Ryuusei and totally understanding what he was doing and everything and not even worrying about him needing to apologize. Also his bond with his friends helping him come back to living was fantastic. I am more intrigued with who Tachibana is but I always was intrigued. Cosmic States is beautiful and awesome, I love this freakin form. All the Switches together is a great power and the sword and color scheme are amazing I can't wait to see more of this form kicking ass. The 30's have picked up for Fourze and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Skyrider episode 29

So I accidentally totally skipped over episode 28. I was just "wait why is he already powered up oh wait lol."

Anyway.

This episode is FUCKED.

Fourze Episodes 33 and 34: Definitely some of the most plot heavy episodes. Enjoyed learning about Kengo's father having a connection with the Director of the School was interesting to see their is something deeper behind them. Also learning more that both the Heroes and Villains powers are connected by the same thing one of my favorite things in Kamen Rider is good and that Cosmic Energy has some sort of deeper thing in the world. Nice to see Foundation X, too bad that plot line hasn't continued. I see that Fourze is sponsored by Playstation because it uses the same shapes as the buttons lol. Yukina's crush on Gentarou was adorable and how Ryuusei protected him was hilarious too. I felt bad for Yuki who was being manipulated by Yukina lol. I liked the Daimonji symbol thing they did with Shun that was hilarious. The Leo Zodiarts was kind of awesome and powerful I can't wait to see them fight him more. I loved Gentarou showing that he's not normal and fighting to save his friends is what he does and that he loves doing it and that Yukina understood that. Their picture together was really cute and I loved that Ryuusei took it and passed it along the KRC. Ryuusei has been a delight since he's shown his real self it should have been a lot sooner. I can't wait for more.

I finished Wizard awhile ago and loved it. Moving onto Gaim now and enjoying it so far, I'm 4 episodes in.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. I've been slowly watching through it for my second time, this time with my 9 year old daughter, and she loves it. We're about where you are, and she begs me to watch an episode with her every day, but lately we're lucky to get even one a week in.
But man, it's a great show, eps 31 and 32 are my favorites. But there's so much great stuff in it. The movies that take place toward the end and afterwards are also fantastic.

Skyrider episode 34.

Aaand I'm all out of Skyrider episodes. The timing is pretty good, because I was getting pretty goddamn tired of it. After Amazon and Stronger were pretty good, I was hoping my days of growing super tired of Showa shows were over, but thanks Skyrider. You really did your best.

So boring.

This GanGanG character looks like he could potentially be entertaining, but I guess I'll only get to find out if Kitsubs ever gets back to this series (seems unlikely) or I run out of other Kamen Rider things to watch and start watching Showa raws.

Yeah, I love Showa era Rider, but they're not the kind of shows you can really sit down and marathon. They're just too episodic and generally repetitive.

I'm watching the handful of subbed Super-1 episodes because why not.

Episode 1 was kinda interesting. Having the Rider willingly choose to be transformed, for a good cause, is a neat twist on the Showa formula. Though ultimately not that much happened in this episode, and it won't really change much.

You know, an actual space series could have been interesting...oh well.

Ok I'm done with all 5 subbed episodes of Super-1. They sure were 5 episodes, of, Kamen Rider Super-1.

That's really all there is to say on the matter.

Pretty unremarkable show from what little I saw. Main character's a bit of a huge gary stu even for a Showa Rider. And his fashion sense is bad. But whatevs.

At least the suits in Super-1 are way way way way better than anything in the previous few series. They were good suits. But that is about it.

I neglected to make note of this earlier, because I am Bad At Math, but Super-1 is actually the 14th Kamen Rider series I've started! Which means I've officially crossed the halfway mark of total Rider shows...started. Since, well, 2 of them are currently airing and 4 of them don't have complete subs. But hey, whatever. It's something, and that something is 14/27 Rider shows I am at least slightly familiar with now. So that's cool. At least the remaining 13 have full subs so...yeah. Yippee.

I'm a huge Showa fan, but Super-1 really failed to hold my interest. There are reasonably decent HK subs out there for it, but the first 5 episodes had me so underwhelmed that I never bothered seeking the rest out.

The raw for Drive x Ghost movie was out.
Weird. I don't know if I'm the only one but I didn't feel contained after watching the movie. It has a weird pacing and surprisingly lacks of dialogs, insert sounds & songs. Quite a disappointment to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPJy...ature=youtu.be

Started Ghost. I like the premise, but the first episode alone isn't really a whole lot to go on. Also...already with the form changes?

The first 6-7 episodes are mainly hunting form changes. They got 15 eyecons which equivalents to 15 episodes for each form. Thankfully not all of them is collecting toy quests. The gimmick is a little bit overused in this show that put off some viewers.

I don't have a problem with the whole "collecting" thing. In fact, sometimes it's nice. It just seems a bit too...soon...to already have a new form. The preview for episode 2 already has yet another form too? It doesn't bother me enough to make me not want to watch more, it just seems a bit rushed - we barely get to see the main suit.